This invention relates to a safety mechanism for guns, and, more particularly, to a safety mechanism which prevents a gun from being discharged unless the trigger is pulled.
A gun conventionally includes a hammer, a trigger for releasing the hammer from a cocked position, and a firing mechanism which is engageable by the hammer for firing the gun. If the firing mechanism is directly engageable by the hammer, it might be possible to fire the gun without pulling the trigger. For example, the gun could be dropped on its hammer which would cause the hammer to hit the firing mechanism hard enough to fire the gun. Alternatively, the hammer could be pulled toward its cocked position in which it is held by the sear mchanism but released before it reaches the cocked position. Even if the hammer does not reach its fully cocked position before it is released, it could strike the firing mechanism with sufficient force to fire the gun.
The invention prevents discharge of the gun when the trigger is in its relaxed or non-fire position. The hammer is not directly engageable with the firing mechanism and will not fire the gun unless a safety link is first interposed between the hammer and the firing mechanism. The safety link is movable into a firing position only by pulling the trigger. The trigger engages a steel pad on a pivotable mounting member for the safety link, and the trigger and the mounting member pivot together when the trigger is pulled. After the gun is fired and the trigger is released, the safety link can pivot on the mounting member so that it can move out of engagement with the hammer.